Cloud 9 Cafe
by Estella May
Summary: Post-Tartarus Arc Future Fic. While passing some time in Hargeon due to a train delay, Levy and Gajeel visit Yajima-san's new cosplay cafe, where Erza and Jellal are working as Frederick and Yanderica.


Author's Note: Don't own Fairy Tail of course, or my OTP would've had thirty babies already. Cover art by and posted with permission from Rusky Boz.

This is a hilariously late gift for my friend TruantPony, who asked for a cute Gajevy and Jerza fic. I hope you liked it!

* * *

Cloud 9 Café

The clock tower nearby was striking nine when Levy finally pushed her way through the crowd that had gathered in front of Hargeon's train station. She emerged onto the street by the station, blinking a little as her eyes adjusted to the light of the street lamps that blazed brightly overhead. It was dark enough now that all the street lamps were lit, though the stars were still coming out one by one in the deep purple sky up above.

She looked around and had no trouble locating her traveling companion seated on a bench nearby. He did kind of stand out, she thought with a smile. A passing policeman evidently thought so too, since he gave Gajeel quite the side-eye as he walked past.

Gajeel simply ignored him and stared at her as she walked up and sank down onto the bench next to him with a sigh.

"So? What's going on?" he asked.

"The next train won't be until eleven," Levy replied. "There's been an accident on the train tracks between Hargeon and Magnolia. A bit messy, from what I've heard. They're still investigating what happened so it'll take some time."

Gajeel scowled and crossed his arms, leaning back against the bench. "I checked with the place that rents out those magical four-wheelers. They're all out, of course."

"Of course," Levy nodded. She leaned back against the bench as well and stretched out her arms, still feeling a bit cramped after standing in a crowd for half an hour. It looked like they were stuck here in Hargeon until eleven. "You didn't have to come with me," she said, feeling a bit guilty.

"The Exceeds came from that mountain village of theirs and asked Lily to help with something, and I didn't have anything better to do," he replied, not looking at her.

Levy nodded and smiled.

She was glad that he'd come with her on this particular job though. Ever since the Grand Magic Games, the more well-known members of Fairy Tail had received a steady stream of job requests that asked for them by name. She was happy for them, of course, though she hadn't received any specific job requests herself.

Until this very morning, that is.

Duke Ellesmere was one of the highest-ranking noblemen in the land, and quite an accomplished mage himself. Levy had indeed been quite caught off guard when she had received his special request. She was confident enough in her code-breaking skills that she was sure she could complete the job without much difficulty, but the prospect of having to address someone so exalted filled her with dread.

She'd been so relieved with Gajeel volunteered to go with her. She couldn't say why, but just having him near her seemed to boost her confidence in herself.

Sometimes she really admired the other guild members like Natsu and Lucy, and their easy way with people. If only she had their confidence and ability to greet just about anyone like they were old friends…

"Hey," said Gajeel, jolting her out of her increasingly depressing thoughts. He looked concerned, though he didn't give voice to his thoughts. "How about we go get something to eat? I'm starving here."

It was true that his stomach was grumbling loud enough for her to hear. But what was still open at this hour? Hargeon was mainly a fishing community, one that typically closed down at dusk so it could open up again at the crack of dawn.

"And no fish," he added, looking a bit green. "I hate fish."

"Well, that just about rules out everything in town," Levy laughed. She mentally flipped through everything she knew about Hargeon, and suddenly hit upon a great idea, if she might say so herself. "What about Yajima-san's new restaurant?"

"That cosplay café?" If anything, Gajeel turned an even deeper shade of green. "No thanks. No way I'd be seen in there."

"I think it would be fun," Levy grinned.

"For who?" Gajeel shot back.

"I've read those Weekly Sorcerer articles about it. It seems like a fun place for everyone involved."

"I still don't know why the old man decided to open a place like that."

"Oh, but isn't it obvious?"

"It's just about the least obvious thing ever."

"You need to look at it from Yajima-san's point of view, Gajeel," Levy said as she stood up and started pacing. "After Tartaros was defeated, he decided that he wanted to open a restaurant again, didn't he? But now he was known as a notorious ex-member of the magic council who might be targeted at any time. Nobody would lend him any money to rebuild. So what was he to do?"

"Build a cosplay café?" Gajeel asked, making a face.

"Naturally." Levy raised three fingers. "And there are three reasons why building a cosplay café made the most sense. One, Yajima-san realized that he couldn't run a restaurant like he once did. He actually needed to make money. Two, after the Grand Magic Games were televised throughout all of Fiore, the popularity of mages in general increased a great deal and some of the more famous ones even developed cult followings. Three, the cosplay pages of the Weekly Sorcerer and the Mira versus Jenny face-off at the last games were all wildly popular. So he decided to build a restaurant that would maximize his chances of making money."

He looked a bit stunned for some reason. "Umm, okay."

"Actually, I think I saw a job posting for the cosplay café earlier this morning on the big board. I wonder who took it?" Levy grinned. "I bet it was Lu-chan."

"Gehe, the bunny girl?" Gajeel seemed to perk up.

"Gajeel," said Levy disapprovingly, waving a finger in front of his face. "Lu-chan does more than just cosplay as a bunny girl! Sometimes she does a cat girl too. And sometimes she just goes naked."

"Urk!" he choked a little.

"In any case, I think you have three choices here. You can either come with me to the café, or you can eat fish, or you can go hungry. Which shall it be?"

He frowned as he weighed the three choices, each more unappealing than the last. "I guess we can go to the café," he finally mumbled.

"That's the right choice." Levy clasped her hands together and smiled happily. "I sure hope they're still open!"

* * *

Levy was an avid reader of the Weekly Sorcerer, and they in turn were avid fans of Hargeon's newest attraction – the Cloud 9 Café.

As such, she had some idea of what to expect. A neat little café built on the site of the old 8 Mile restaurant, it sported a rather unassuming appearance on the outside, blending in with the surrounding buildings. Inside however, magically suspended glitter swirled about the ceiling, while everything below was decked out in various shades of pale blue and lavender.

There were a multitude of cute little round tables with feet carved in the shape of cats' paws, covered with lacy blue tablecloths. A row of booths lined the walls, with heart-shaped cushions placed on the seats. And a series of lamps hanging from the ceiling shined down from behind their blue-tinted glass.

In fact, it reminded her more of Juvia's room at Fairy Hills more than anything else, almost to the point that she believed the water mage designed the place. But since there were no shrines to Gray anywhere to be seen, she figured that it wasn't the case.

Yet as familiar as she was with the place, Levy really had no idea what would be awaiting them there.

The tinkling of a bell somewhere deep inside the café accompanied their entrance.

"Ah, maybe we're too late," said Levy, looking around. The dining area looked just like the glossy photos in the Weekly Sorcerer, just completely empty.

"It's empty," said Gajeel, looking a tad bit too relieved.

Levy resisted the urge to laugh. She glanced at the row of blue shoji screens that separated the dining area from the kitchen in the back, and called out, "Hello? Is there anyone here?"

"We're just about to close up…" said a very familiar voice.

"Erza? Is that you?" Levy exclaimed in surprise. Well, she was both surprised and not surprised. She knew that Erza loved to dress up and that she'd enjoyed working here in the past, but she'd thought that their guild's S-class mages would have more important missions to occupy their time.

"Ah, Levy?" Erza appeared from behind the screens, dressed in a glittering green coat with dark leggings, with a sword at her side and a long, flowing cloak. Her hair was tied back and with the sparkle in her eye, she was the spitting image of a handsome, dashing prince. She picked up a few menus and gave them a rather theatrical bow. "I suppose we can make an exception for the two of you. What brings you to Hargeon today?"

"We were just passing through on our way back from a job when there was an accident on the tracks between here and Magnolia. So we're stuck here while they're cleaning it up," she replied.

"What sort of accident?" Erza asked, concerned.

"A freight train wasn't able to stop in time and plowed through a small herd of cows."

Erza shook her head. "What a waste of good cows."

"Indeed," Levy nodded. "So I didn't know that it was you who took the flyer this morning! Are you supposed to be a prince?"

"And isn't that a costume from that demented play that the four of you were in?" Gajeel asked with all his usual tact.

"Mmm yes," Erza nodded proudly. "I have been in talks with the owner of the Scheherazade Theater to possibly stage a revival of our truly glorious play, and he lent me the costumes to drum up some publicity. Speaking of which, we could use your talents for it, Gajeel. Rabian-san was saying that the previous version of the play was too boring and needed more conflict, so I think we could introduce a rival Iron Dragon for our Fire Dragon."

"Gehe, so I get to beat up Salamander on stage?" Gajeel grinned. "I'm in."

"We could use you too, Levy," said Erza, turning to her and narrowing her eyes.

"No way," said Levy, backing away a bit and waving her hands. There was something about the look in Erza's eyes that unnerved her. And it wasn't as if she could secretly take pictures of Gajeel up on stage if she was part of the play... "I think I'd die of stage fright up there."

"That doesn't stop Erza," said another voice.

Levy turned to look for its source and saw a tall figure dressed in a pink gown with long blonde hair appear from behind the shoji screens.

At first, she thought it was Lucy and was very much confused because it had clearly been a man's voice, but then she looked closer and realized that she was horribly mistaken.

"On second thought," said Gajeel, whose eyes were bugging out as he turned a delicate shade of green, "I don't really want to be part of this play after all."

"Gajeel. Levy." Jellal came up and gave them a perfectly executed curtsy. "Welcome to the Cloud 9 Café." He then stood by Erza's side with the most businesslike composure and smiled serenely.

Levy realized that her mouth was open and quickly closed it.

Well in her defense, one didn't often walk into a cosplay café and find one of the Ten Wizard Saints wearing a tight-fitting pink gown and blonde wig. And upon closer inspection, Levy actually had to admit that he made quite a pretty princess...

No. She had to stop thinking about this. The more she thought about it, the more ridiculous it became. And she needed to keep her wits about her to come up with a polite enough response for one of the Ten Wizard Saints, even if he happened to be wearing a lacy pink dress and glittery tiara...

Levy mentally slapped herself and blurted out, "Ah, umm, thank you for the welcome! We're very happy to be here! Was this your idea, Erza?"

Erza nodded, beaming. "Jellal mentioned that he wanted to see what going on a job was like, since he had never been on one before."

"And this is what you chose?" Gajeel seemed incredulous.

"It seemed like the perfect choice," Erza said matter-of-factly, "I needed to do publicity for the show and Jellal had a favor from Yajima-san that he needed to repay. So we accomplished both goals at once with admirable efficiency."

"I believe that Yajima-san and I are very much even after today," said Jellal.

"His guild was here earlier and took many pictures," Erza said proudly. "I will have to ask Meredy for copies of them later. I think they might prove useful."

Jellal's smile wavered a little bit but still remained firmly in place.

Levy suddenly felt a rush of sympathy for him that instantly overwhelmed any reservations she might've had about his appearance. She had grown up with Erza and knew exactly what sort of bizarre ideas that she was apt to come up with, and exactly how she expected absolute obedience from everyone around her.

So even he wasn't exempt from it all. But he was probably much more well compensated for going along with it than the rest of them though, she thought with a smirk.

"So about the reason why we're here..." said Gajeel.

"Oh, yes!" Erza jumped forward and led them to one of the booths. "Please excuse me for my brief lapse. Welcome to the Cloud 9 Cafe. Your servers today will be Prince Frederick and Princess Yanderica."

She waited for them to be seated and then placed two menus down onto the table. She was about to add some silverware too when Levy stopped her.

"Ah, Erza, I don't mean to be rude, but Gajeel sort of has the habit of accidentally eating his utensils when they're made out of steel," she said, reaching into her bag and pulling out a special set of utensils that she always carried around with her. "And so I had these made to prevent any misunderstandings with the places where we eat at. They're made of a special ore that's harder than steel, so he'll break his teeth if he tries to eat them," she added happily.

"That's very thoughtful of you, Levy," said Erza, looking very impressed indeed. "You're quite lucky that Levy thinks of everything," she said to Gajeel, who had his head buried behind the glossy menu.

"I'll have two Moe Moe Omelettes and one Jenny Realight Special," he said.

"Oh, what's that?" Levy asked as she flipped open the menu. It consisted of six pages, with two devoted to the usual café fare, and another four for specials named after famous mages. The Jenny Realight Special was the very first one listed, and featured the famous beauty queen holding a lemon cake with a mountain of whipped cream on top close to her very large chest as she winked for the camera.

"A good choice," said Erza as she jotted down his order on a small notebook. "I would also recommend the Erza Scarlet Special. Yajima-san informs me that it is one of the most popular items on the menu."

Levy scanned the menu and saw that the special in question was a strawberry cake with Erza's face drawn on top in icing, which the Erza in the photo also held close to her very large chest as she posed wearing an apron on top of a gothic-lolita outfit. It looked quite good, but Levy somehow found her appetite disappearing faster by the moment. "Ah thanks Erza, but I think I'll just have the Mirajane special," she said, pointing to the photo of their guild's other female S-class mage holding a large soda topped with vanilla ice cream and a tiny umbrella as she smiled for the camera.

"Very well," she replied, making a note.

"Anyway, why don't you two join us?" asked Levy as she leaned back in the seat and hugged the heart-shaped cushion close. "Since we're the only guests here right now."

They exchanged glances and seemed to have some sort of unspoken communication. Erza then turned back to them and smiled. "I think we could do that," she replied. "Why don't you sit down for a bit, Jellal? You've been standing in those heels all day. I'll be back soon with your orders."

Levy tried not to laugh as she watched him sit down across from her with a sigh of relief, pink gown and all. She scanned the menu a bit more and looked up with a quizzical expression. "How come there's not a special here named after you?" she asked him.

Jellal smiled. "I think I'm still too controversial for something like that. I do recommend the Jura special though. It is a very good potato salad."

"Really? That's such a pity. Look Gajeel, even Rogue has one with Sting - the Twin Dragons' Double-Decker Vanilla and Chocolate Cheesecake Special."

Gajeel muttered something that she couldn't hear, but Jellal who sat next to him seemed to. "Oh, but why not? It's all in good fun," he said, still smiling. "And remember that you get a cut of the profits whenever someone buys your special. It seems to be a pretty substantial sum too, since it pays for Erza's entire cake budget now."

"You got offered a special here and you turned it down?" Levy immediately figured out what was going on.

Gajeel sank a bit deeper down behind his menu.

Levy thought about making a comment on how he valued his manliness over all that cold hard cash, but she figured that he was already suffering enough on his own, so she let the topic go. "This seems like such a nice restaurant," she said, looking around.

"Yes, Yajima-san has done a great deal with it," Jellal replied. "And it's been a great success. Earlier today the lines were wrapping around the block. I'm very happy for him."

"He is very lucky that he gets to do something that he loves after retiring as a mage. I hope that we all could be as fortunate."

Jellal looked thoughtful. "What would you like to do when you retire?" he asked her, smiling.

"Oh, I definitely want to be a magazine editor! I'm not very good at writing myself, but I love working with writers and reading their work." Levy smiled happily.

"That sounds like a wonderful dream," he replied.

"Your orders are ready," said Erza as she walked up to them with a tray balanced on one hand.

"That was fast!" Levy exclaimed as she watched Erza set three plates down in front of Gajeel and a large glass almost overflowing with ice cream in front of her. "It looks wonderful!"

"Yajima-san sends his regards." Erza smiled and sat down next to Levy. "What were you talking about?"

"Oh, just about what we'd like to do after we retired as mages. I'd like to be a magazine editor, myself. What about you, Erza?"

She also looked thoughtful as she drummed her fingers against the tabletop. "I can't say I've thought a great deal about it, but I suppose I'd like to go work for Heart Kreuz," she said with a sparkle in her eye.

"Knowing Erza, she'd probably take over the company in under a year," Levy laughed.

"Maybe someone should warn Heart Kreuz about what's going to happen to them…" Gajeel muttered.

"I think they're already fairly accustomed to working for Erza and meeting all her demands," said Jellal. "It wouldn't be that big of an adjustment. Last time we were there, she had them practically quaking in their boots."

"That's our Erza. And what about you, Gajeel?" asked Levy. "What would you like to do?"

Gajeel swallowed a mouth full of omelette and shrugged. "Nothing really. I don't have any interests."

"Oh really, Mr. Shooby-doo-bop?" asked Erza, raising an eyebrow at this.

"That's just a hobby," said Gajeel as he puffed his cheeks out.

"Well, you do have plenty of time to think about it. What about you, Jellal?"

"Hmm, nothing very ambitious. I'd like to eventually set myself up someplace where I can study the origins of magic."

"That's not ambitious?" asked Levy, incredulous.

"And didn't the last guy who tried to do that end up going incredibly evil and storing his heart in a giant jar?" asked Gajeel, who looked at him as if he was about to sprout fangs.

"I don't think you have to worry about me," said Jellal as he looked across the table at Erza and smiled. "My heart will be safe."

An awkward silence followed this admittedly sappy declaration, as Levy didn't know quite what to say. Evidently Gajeel didn't either since he paused for a moment, his mouth open, then turned his attention back to his food.

Erza merely smiled, her cheeks slightly pink, as she returned his gaze.

Erza was really lucky in so many ways, Levy mused as she sipped her ice cream soda. Jellal was tall, handsome, scholarly, blue-haired, and looked at her with an intensity that sent shivers up Levy's spine.

Levy briefly imagined Gajeel looking at her the same way and almost choked on her soda. Not that she wouldn't welcome such a thing – it just made her feel slightly uncomfortable. This sort of thing was easy for Erza, since she had grown up admired by any and all, but for her it was quite different. In a way, Levy kind of envied her.

She stared at Gajeel as he wolfed down his last omelette and sighed. Well, not that she was in any danger of seeing it happen for real anytime soon.

In any case, since the two of them now seemed completely oblivious to her and Gajeel's presence, it was probably best for them to go.

"I can't believe it's ten thirty already," she said, finally breaking the silence after glancing up at the clock on the wall. "Gajeel, maybe we should head back to the train station?"

"Thank go-, I mean… good idea," he replied.

"Don't worry about the bill," said Erza. "My treat."

Levy knew better than to argue with her, and Erza sure did seem in a very good mood. "Thank you so much," she replied. "I guess… I'll see you back at Fairy Hills tomorrow?"

She nodded, her cheeks still tinged pink, as she stood up to see them off.

"It was good to see you again," Levy said to Jellal, bowing slightly.

"The same to you," he replied.

"Yeah, see you around," said Gajeel as he waved and turned to walk out of the café.

"Bye!" Levy also waved as she hurried to follow him.

* * *

It was slightly chilly outside when they emerged from the café. Levy pulled a light jacket out of her bag and wrapped it tightly around herself.

"Now that wasn't too bad, was it?" she asked, smiling up at him.

"Are you kidding me?" exclaimed Gajeel. "I couldn't wait to get out of there at the end."

"They did look like they were glad to get rid of us too," she laughed.

"I don't know why, but I almost feel sorry for the old man, being around those two for an entire day," he muttered.

"That's very nice of you, Gajeel. Showing concern for others is a very admirable trait."

"I was just joking, of course!"

"Of course." Levy nodded and sighed. She raised up her arms towards the starry sky and stretched, humming a bit to herself.

The town was completely quiet at this time of night, and all they could hear were their footsteps on the paved stone streets.

"You know," said Gajeel after they had walked for a while in silence, "most mages would find those two a lot more intimidating than that duke earlier today."

"But... but, but," Levy sputtered, surprised at his sudden observation and her inability to deny the truth of it. "But Jellal was wearing a pink gown, a blonde wig, and a tiara! And it actually looked good on him!"

"That doesn't change anything," he shrugged.

"And this is Erza we're talking about! I grew up with her and gave her her first ecchi books. Of course I didn't know what she liked at first but then it turned out that she liked master and servant stuff and also..."

"I don't need to know what Erza likes," Gajeel immediately cut her off.

"I suppose you're right," Levy pouted. "Maybe I was being ridiculous earlier. If I don't find those two intimidating, then someone like the duke should be easy to deal with."

"Of course I'm right," said Gajeel.

There was something about the completely matter-of-fact way that he said it that made Levy want to poke at him a bit. "That's true," she said, giving him a sly smile. "After all, I also don't find you, the fearsome iron dragon slayer, intimidating either. So that really says something, doesn't it?"

It was Gajeel's turn to sputter this time. "We- well... I don't find you intimidating either!" he blurted out as he stopped in his tracks and pointed a finger at her.

"Me? Intimidating?" Levy was genuinely surprised.

"Well, ye- yeah..." he said, looking at the ground. "I mean, you're amazing at code-breaking like you did earlier... and I don't even know how many languages you know... and I don't even think I understand what you're saying sometimes..."

It was then that Levy realized that he was trying to cheer her up and feel more confident in herself. And that it made her feel incredibly happy and warm inside. And that it was really difficult for him, what with his personality, to do this, but he was trying anyway. And that they were both, in their own slightly clumsy ways, doing their best to overcome whatever it was that held them back.

And that she didn't really envy Erza much at all, for what she had here before her was so much more precious to her.

"Gajeel," she said, also looking at the ground. "Thank you..."

"Wh-... wait, what?" he asked.

"For everything." She smiled and looked up at him.

"Umm... ah, okay..." Gajeel scratched the back of his head, still not looking at her.

"And as thanks," she said, inching a bit closer, "I think I'll let you rest your head on my lap on the way back to Magnolia. While we're on that train."

Gajeel turned slightly red and shrank back a bit before he suddenly took off in the direction of the train station.

Levy laughed and hurried to catch up with him.

"Stupid Salamander and his stupid contagious motion sickness..." he muttered after a while. They were now in view of the station and could see a train on the tracks, steam pouring out of the locomotive and ready to go.

"True, true," Levy agreed, still smiling.

"...I'll talk to the old man about reconsidering on the special. I don't know how many people will actually buy it, but maybe it'll be enough to buy me that guitar that I want and that encyclopedia set that you've been looking at..."

"Really? Really! Oh, thank you! So much!"

"Ufgh... can't breathe..."

"Oh, sorry. Haha."

"Now I know why Lily was warning me about your chokeholds..."

"Gajeel?"

"Hmm?"

"Thanks again. For everything."

"Yeah... You too."


End file.
